By Moonlight: Vamp Rising Part 12

Instantly, Gwen sank further into her hypnotic state and glided across the floor. Her mouth found Christoph's supple neck and licked across the smooth surface, as her teeth elongated.

"Gwen?" Brandon asked, his voice nothing more than a thread, expressing the confusion, sorrow, and disbelief that had suddenly claimed his heart.

Though she detected the anguish in his voice, Gwen couldn't comprehend why it was there. All she understood was that she was intoxicated by the man whose neck she was sucking and with that she sank her fangs deep, drawing blood.

"You made your point," said Elektra dryly, as her hold on Brandon softened into comforting rubbing. "I know you don't want anyone thinking of her as property, Brandon, but that's what she is. She's indebted to him. He owns her. And he can rule her like this whenever he chooses. I'm so sorry."

"She promised me she wouldn't feed off of him," said Brandon, heartbroken.

"A vampire's promise is always a lie," offered Ismay. "They don't live by the codes of loyalty that we do. They don't live by any codes at all."

Gwen drifted back from Christoph's neck and gazed eerily at Brandon. Her voice was a melodic void, as she said, "Let me go, Brandon. Let me go where I belong."

Chapter Seven.

"Gwen! How did you survive for nine days in the Cascade Mountains? What did you do?"

Pop! A white flash pierced her retina.

"Gwen, what was your last thought before you fell down the ravine?" Said the next voice urgently interrupting the first.

Pop! The camera flashes were disorienting, as the press closed in on Gwen. She kept her head low, but still there was nowhere she could look that those blindingly bright flashes wouldn't sting her eyes.

"Gwen Keller! What were you doing in the Cascades at this time of year? Why did you go there?"

Pop! Pop! Pop!

It was the question on everyone's mind, but she didn't have the heart to answer. If her parents had spent days in anguish over her disappearance, they'd be crushed to learn she'd kept her blood cancer a secret. Not to mention it would be impossible to explain its magical remission. Gwen was self-conscious enough that after nine days lost within the Cascades, she didn't have a bruise to show for it. No broken bones. Not one scratch.

"Ms. Keller needs her rest and we ask that you respect her privacy while she recovers from this traumatic ordeal," said Martin Fuller, Gwen's uncle on her mothers side of the family. Martin had been practicing law in Seattle for the past twenty-two years and though his work was anch.o.r.ed in criminal defense, he'd volunteered himself to be the buffer between Gwen and the reporters, the mouthpiece to tell her story when the time came, and that wasn't now.

Martin was cradling Gwen gingerly, while her parents flanked her left side. They simply wanted to get her from the Lexus to the front door of their apartment building without incident and the swarming reporters were making that extremely difficult. There seemed to be over thirty of them, though Gwen couldn't tell for sure. The flashbulb bursts were too painful to look through.

"Please step aside!" Gwen's father, Steve Keller said firmly before muttering ridiculous.

But the reporters only inched back, shouting their questions mercilessly, none willing to lose the story.

Being an aggressive man impervious to the kinds of physical intimidation reporters were capable of when they ama.s.sed into a barricading wall, Martin barreled ahead with outstretched arms and literally pressured them back until they had no choice but to step aside and let the Keller's through or get stacked, bodies-to-building, against the gla.s.s entrance doors.

And step aside they did, though the cameramen and photographers lifted their equipment high above their heads to shoot down at Gwen in a last ditch effort to collect a decent shot. Soon the doormen inside the lobby thrust the gla.s.s doors inward, Steve Keller braced his daughter and protectively guided her through, as her mother, Rose clung to Gwen's arm, using her dainty figure as a s.h.i.+eld against the few tenacious reporters who had refused to step back. As Rose did, she leaned on Gwen for support. Rose's ankle, though bandaged tightly, was still swollen and the crutch that was propped under her armpit did little to help her walk. Once the family was safely tucked in the lobby, Martin stood in the doorway with a proud chest preparing to confront the press with a few last words and the reporters hushed their chorus of shouted questions like dogs waiting for a bone to be tossed.

"We will be holding a press conference in three days time at the Marriot. Until then any requests for interviews must come through my office. No one is to contact the Keller's directly and if I get word one of your publications or networks has, any requests you might make after will be automatically denied. Again, we ask you to respect the Keller's privacy."

Gwen finally registered how cold it was while she was standing in the lobby, flanked by her parents. One of the nurses at the hospital had provided her with a set of teal scrubs and cotton booties, but they were no match for the dropping temperature.

"We'll get a pot of Chamomile tea on for you, Gwenie and have some food delivered," Rose told her, as she gave her daughter a little pat. "Our little fighter," she added, smiling up at Gwen through tears.

Martin and Steve joined them and then quickly ushered the ladies through to the back of the lobby where the elevator banks were located. After stepping in and riding the swift vertical whoosh that always made Gwen's ears pop, the doors opened and they entered directly into the Keller's penthouse.

The scent of her parents' home, a soothing mix of floral potpourri, carpet cleaner, and crisp air conditioning set to a comfortable 78, brought back a rush of memories. She'd only been gone nine days, but it seemed like a lifetime ago when she'd last been here. Tremendous warmth surged through her chest, as she made her way to the living room couch with her mother's sheltering help. When she took a seat, curling her legs up to sit cross-legged, Rose began digging around her giant Coach bag then produced an I-Phone, Blackberry, and I-Pad replete with their correlating charging devices, and finally a MacBook Pro.

Gwen smiled to herself. It was like watching a clown car, each item surpa.s.sing the last, how did it all fit? Do you want the big anchor or the little anchor? Was an old joke that sprang to mind. Rose Keller had everything you could ever want, need, or imagine crammed inside that giant purse.

"This is as much as we found in the Mercedes," she explained. "No signs anyone had tried to break in."

"Thanks, Mom," she said, as she nested the items to her left in the corner of the couch.

"Oksana!" Her mother sang out at a kind, but urgent volume and immediately a fifty-nine year old Russian woman popped her head into view from the closet down the hall. "Tea please. And I know the boys would appreciate coffee. And could you call Mariano's and order, well- Gwen, what are you hungry for? Oksie, just get-"

"Steak," Gwen interjected to her mother's surprise. "Rare, please."

"Steak entree and the boys and I will have the fish of the day and we'll need four salads as well and whatever they have for dessert. You know what we like," she instructed.

Oksana nodded, smiled at Gwen as if to say she was relieved to have her home, then the housekeeper started down the hall to hop to it.

Martin and Steve, who had hung back in the foyer to discuss something that to Gwen's eye had appeared gravely important, came crossing through into the living room and then took seats on the adjoining couch.

"It's important that you rest," said Martin, taking charge of the family's course of action, as though they were heading into some kind of battle with the press. "But we will need to address the media in some fas.h.i.+on. 20/20 would like an exclusive, but Dateline keeps outbidding them and several publishers want to buy the Life Rights to tell your story. You've become the face of wilderness survival and it's important we monetize these opportunities in case you're unable to return to work."

"Why would I be unable to return to work?" Asked Gwen suddenly confused, not to mention thoroughly overwhelmed by the media storm. It never occurred to her she'd be getting this kind of attention.

"Sweetheart, you'll need time to recover. There's no reason to pressure yourself into going back to work," said her mother, choosing her words carefully and keeping her eye on her husband for a.s.surance.

"I haven't been replaced, have I?" Gwen asked nervously.

"Gwen, Dear," her father started, speaking slowly with a sense of seriousness Gwen hadn't heard from him before. "That job had you running ragged. You would have never thought to slip off to the Cascades, which was so unlike you, had it not been for the incredible stress you were under."

"Let's discuss this after you've had a few days to rest," Rose suggested. "Oh! Oksana!" She called out abruptly. "Make it one more entree, salad, and dessert if you would! I forgot all about the boyfriend."

Boyfriend?

Gwen's thoughts were suddenly flooded with Brandon: their incredible time together, the electricity of each kiss, his desire to satisfy her every need and the pa.s.sion he'd demonstrated while doing so. She became enveloped by the memory of his arms, the warmth of them wrapped around her, the way they'd breathed together, bringing each other into climax, as though the universe had aligned itself with perfect orchestration just so that they could find each other and feel their way through their unusual love. They were more than just great s.e.x. Though Brandon's conviction to be with her had seemed far more certain than her own, she still knew something about them was meant to be. But Elektra had torn them apart. Hadn't she? Thinking back, Gwen realized the last thing she remembered before waking up in the hospital had been that terrible confrontation between Brandon and Christoph, but her memories went fuzzy after that. Brandon had been heartbroken, though. She remembered that much, the look on his face, the torment behind his eyes. He'd been crushed, but why? Gwen was suddenly filled with a dreadful sense that she'd caused it, but when she searched her memories following the thread of events, soon there was nothing there but darkness and sorrow.

"Gwenie, Hun, why didn't you tell us you were seeing someone?" Rose asked encouragingly. If her mother had one grievance with Gwen, it was that she never made time to date and Rose wanted grandchildren more than anything.

"Yez, thankt you, yez. Sendt him op, pleaz," said Oksana in her frail voice, thickly accented, from down the hall. Gwen watched the housekeeper return the hall phone to its cradle on the wall then disappear back down the hallway.

Unsure of who was about to enter the penthouse, Gwen stared wide-eyed at her mother. "Where did you find me?" She asked, cautiously.

Her father's brows arched with sympathy, as he said, "We didn't. Your boyfriend did. Honey, you don't remember? He found you on the northern side of Mount Rainier. He brought you to the hospital, contacted us from there." Steve exchanged a worrisome look with Rose then said rea.s.suringly, "You've suffered a bit of amnesia, but the doctors said it would lift in time."

I don't have a boyfriend, she wanted to say, though she wasn't sure it was the best option.

The elevator doors slid open revealing Christoph.

"He's quite handsome," said Rose, discretely leaning in to Gwen's ear before whispering a final blessing, "Good genes."

Suddenly Gwen's world was spinning off its axis. She stopped breathing and stared at the vampire who was lingering strangely within the elevator.

"Come in, please!" Offered Steve just as the elevator doors sprung out from the wall to close.

Great, my father just invited a vampire in, thought Gwen.

Christoph stepped through before the doors could close and shook Martin's hand, who had approached swiftly to greet him, as though Martin was the Keller's amba.s.sador.

"Mr. Fuller," Christoph said with a firm nod. "Mr. and Mrs. Keller, thank you for the invitation."

"Join us," said Rose, beaming with excitement. "Food is on the way."

As Christoph crossed the living room, Rose joined Steve on the adjacent couch and Oksana set down a sterling silver tray holding a porcelain tea pot and five matching teacups.

Christoph took a seat beside Gwen, who was absolutely astonished by trying desperately not to show it. Then he casually draped his arm behind Gwen on the couch back, demonstrating such a wealth of familiarity that Gwen was instantly unnerved.

"Hero and Heroine," cooed Rose, who snapped her fingers in Oksana's general direction. "The camera!"

"Mom, please," uttered Gwen, but her mother hushed her with a wave.

After snapping a few photos that Gwen imagined had her looking rigid and off guard, her mother pa.s.sed the camera back to Oksana, who disappeared once again down the hall.

"It was nice seeing you, Christoph, but I must be getting home," said Martin.

"Oh yes, it's well after midnight," Steve agreed, who walked his brother-in-law to the elevator.

"Good night Gwen, Rose," called Martin before the doors shut.

Steve returned and suddenly Gwen noticed she was feeling ill. It had crept up on her and she was sure Christoph was the reason.

"My Dear, are you alright?" Christoph asked, as though he was performing their mutual affection for her parents' benefit. "I feel a sudden throbbing in my head."

"You do?" Asked Gwen softly.

"It's that tray," he whispered. "Silver."

"Gwen, are you feeling alright? You look pale," said Rose, concerned.

"I'd really like to go to bed," she admitted.

"Certainly, Oksana's prepared the guest room for you."

"Guest room? I can sleep in my old room."

"Sweetheart, that bed isn't big enough," her mother said with a wink.

"Mom," said Gwen sternly, as she realized her mother intended the man who Rose believed to be her future son-in-law should sleep in the same bed as Gwen. "I'm sure Christoph was just leaving."

"I'd like to stay close," he said, directing a warm smile at Rose. "But Gwen needs her rest and can sleep in her own room for tonight."

"What a gentleman," said Rose, smiling ear to ear.

"Let me get you settled," offered Gwen, though between the two vampires it was clearly an order.

"Oh, Dear, food is on the way," objected Rose.

"Really, Mom, he's tired and not hungry. Trust me."

"Good evening, Rose, Steve. Thank you again for your warm hospitality," said Christoph rising to his feet.

Unnerved, Gwen pulled Christoph down the long hallway and turned left into the guest bedroom then quickly shut the door.

"You can't be here alone. You'll eat your parents," said Christoph preemptively making a case for why he would have to stay.

"I don't remember anything since Elektra's office. What the h.e.l.l did you do?" Gwen demanded, spitting each word through her teeth, but speaking quietly.

"You wanted to be reunited with your parents and I did what had to be done in order to accommodate."

"Don't give me that," she snapped. "I didn't want it to happen like this, leaving me with no memory. Where's Brandon? I need to talk to him. He's the one who should be here with me, not you."

"Brandon's bad for you. I've explained this."

"I don't know who you think you're messing with, but my uncle is an attorney and if I tell them you abducted me in the Cascades, trust me, you'll be locked up in a snap," she threatened. "The second they're in bed, you're gone. Got it?"

Christoph angled his piercing green eyes down at her with such severity that it chilled Gwen to the bone. "Your parents don't know you're a vampire, yet..." The implication was so triggering Gwen was instantly jarred into the revelation that came next.

"You glamorized me?" She said, as stark dread surged through her gut.

"It was the only way," he said, dryly.

"You're evil," she said, but more so to herself. She couldn't look at him. That was the dark sorrow that had filled her earlier, the sadness that had threatened to shatter her spirit: she'd broken her promise to Brandon, and poor Brandon had watched her do it.

"Gwen," he started, this time his tone carried a thread of remorse that Gwen wasn't expecting. "I've wanted you to see me for what I am. A man. A vampire. Of the same kind that you now are. I've wanted you to see me for what I could be to you, for you. And I've wanted so badly for you to arrive at the feeling on your own."

Gwen listened, trying to understand what he was trying to say, but kept getting caught up in his vague, mystical phrasing.

"I care for you. I want you to give me a chance."

She snorted at that.

"What I did, though I felt it was the only way-"

"Controlling me like a complete psycho," she clarified sarcastically.